Sound Doctrine Backed by Sound Living

If a church is to be spiritually healthy, if it is to be sound, whole, if it is to enjoy strength, power, well-being, it must have sound words, sound doctrine, and it must be called to sound healthy spiritual living. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today John MacArthur starts a series that will show you just how counter-cultural your lifestyle should be if you're a Christian. It's titled, Revolutionary Living in a Dark Culture. You know, it's hard to imagine a generation that is less concerned about sin and more enamored with doing whatever pleases oneself than the one we're living in. These are really dark times. But of course, against a dark background, the work of Christ in people's lives shines all the brighter. And John, I know that you hope the study you're about to begin will encourage Christians to shine brighter than ever.

Absolutely, Phil. This is of course our calling to be lights in the world. And this series is going to be titled, Revolutionary Living in a Dark Culture. And we're going to draw these truths from Titus chapter 2. The Lord calls on us to live a revolutionary lifestyle, one that is different, that stands out, demands attention, gives credibility to our gospel, adorns the doctrine of God, as scripture says. If we want to stand out, we need a model to follow, a clear model of what older and younger believers should look like. And that's what we are going to look at in the series, Revolutionary Living in a Dark Culture. We're going to look at our tendency to mimic the culture around us, to be sucked into the patterns of the world. Along the way, we'll take a close look at feminism's attack on today's godly woman. For husbands and wives and fathers and mothers who sense that we're swimming against the current, this series will provide helpful encouragement and challenge. So this is one of those important studies that's going to make you sit up and take notice. It's had that kind of ministry to many listeners through the years.

Don't miss a day. Thanks, John. Friend, whether you're a man or a woman, young or old, this study will help you honor God by living according to the unique role He has designed for you.

So to begin his look at Revolutionary Living in a Dark Culture, here is John MacArthur. The Lord is concerned about the health of His body, the church. We live in a time when people are fanatically concerned about their physical bodies, and we must understand that the Lord is far more concerned about His spiritual body.

And that's really what is behind this chapter. The Lord has great concern that the church be what He wants it to be. He is concerned about the church's spiritual health. One ringing note that bears on that theme is the use of the word sound. The word sound, the word in Greek, basically gives us our word hygiene, means healthy. It is used nine times in the pastoral epistles, namely 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. And of those nine uses of the word sound, five of them appear in Titus. Five times Paul directs Titus' attention and ours to the need for spiritual health. If anything is clear from the pastoral epistles and from Titus, it is that the Lord is concerned about healthy doctrine and healthy living and they are linked. In chapter 1, for example, in verse 9, he talks about sound doctrine and then in verse 13, living it out by being sound in the faith. In chapter 2, verse 1, he talks again about sound doctrine and living it out by being sound in faith. In chapter 2, verse 7, he talks about purity in doctrine and its consequent sound in speech, verse 8. So the theme throughout not only Titus, but 1 and 2 Timothy is the teaching of sound doctrine and the call for consequent sound living, healthy doctrine which produces healthy living.

That's crucial. Now this is all set against the backdrop of unsound doctrine which produces unsound living, or unhealthy doctrine which produces unhealthy Christianity. Repeatedly in 1 and 2 Timothy, and here again in Titus, there is a preoccupation with false teachers. False teachers are noted in chapter 1, you remember in verse 10, as rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers. They...verse 11...upset whole families, they teach things they shouldn't teach. We find that they turn away to Jewish myths, commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

And verse 16 says, they know God they say, but by their deeds they deny Him being detestable, disobedient and worthless for any good deed. Here you have diseased doctrine which results in diseased living. Over in chapter 3, verse 9, there is a reminder to shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law because they are unprofitable and worthless, they are unhealthy. So when someone teaches that stuff, reject Him after a first and second warning because you know He is perverted and sinning, being self-condemned.

There is seemingly always the anticipated presence of error and its result in unhealthy living. So again I say, if there's anything clear about the pastoral epistles, and particularly Titus, it is that God is concerned that His church have healthy teaching and be called to healthy application of that teaching, healthy living. If a church is to be spiritually healthy, if it is to be sound, whole, if it is to enjoy strength, power, well-being, it must have sound words, sound doctrine, and it must be called to sound healthy spiritual living. Now if you've studied the Bible with us any time at all, you know that this theme comes again and again and again in Holy Scripture.

The Apostle Paul, along with the rest of the Apostles who wrote the New Testament, were concerned about healthy doctrine and holy living. In this practical chapter, and I mean really practical chapter, we're going to look at the specifics of healthy Christian living. We're going to look at a godly congregation and how a godly congregation functions.

We're going to discuss older men and older women, younger women, younger men, and those who work as employees here called slaves. And we're going to talk about what God says all of us, each in our own categories, are to be doing. The Holy Spirit prescribes in this chapter a series of mandates, binding commands for every congregation to obey and to be spiritually healthy.

And I might add as a footnote, some of them are going to be very unpopular because they're contrary to contemporary thinking, but they are the Word of God. And it is Titus' task, and mine and any other spiritual leader, to hold the church accountable for healthy living in light of healthy doctrine. Now the chapter is very straightforward. It is very clear.

It is very strong. The opening and closing verses of the chapter are very important for us to understand because in the opening and closing verse, God demands those who are in His church to follow these patterns, to follow these commandments. Let's look at verse 1 to start with. "'But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.'"

Literally in the Greek it says, "'But you.'" And it's in contrast to the ones just described in verse 16. Those rebellious, empty deceivers, those false teachers who are detestable, disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.

Why? Because they teach things they ought not to teach. They teach deceptive lies. They're all caught up in myths and human commandments, and they turn away from the truth in contrast to that, but you, Titus, in contrast to all the unhealthy, false teaching coming from these fake teachers, you speak things fitting for sound doctrine.

You be committed to the health of the church. There are plenty who teach error and plague the church with weakness and disease as a result. The pestilence of sin is the result of their useless verbiage. It says in verse 16, they are worthless for any good work.

They bring no benefit to the church. They are adokimos is the word. They are tested and found useless. The word adokimos was used in building when a stone was not fit to be put into the building. It had some serious flaw.

They would scratch an A on it, an alpha, for adokimos and set it aside so no one would pick it up again and use it. These are people who are useless. You, on the other hand, Titus, need to be useful and valuable to the church because you speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Any pastor, any church leader is certainly called to this responsibility. Now let me make it very clear what he's saying. He is not saying, speak sound doctrine. That's already been covered basically back in verse 9 of chapter 1 where the leaders of the church are instructed to hold fast the faithful word and exhort with sound doctrine. What he is now saying is, you must speak the things which are properly to be associated with sound doctrine.

That is those things which issue in the matter of daily living. Teach the practical requirements for everyday life that suit true doctrine. You can't just fill people's head with theology. You must be truly useful by teaching the required behavior that is consistent with sound doctrine. Healthy teaching, yes, and then instruction about healthy living.

You can't just teach it without forcing the application to some degree. Now there are several key terms in that statement in verse 1 that may help us. The first one is the word speak from the Greek verb laleo which just means to talk. It's not the word kiruso, to preach. It's not the word didaskaleo, to teach. It's just to talk.

And it's a present tense. Just keep on talking concerning things which are suitable as associates of healthy doctrine. Continually be talking about the kind of behavior that fits the truth.

And he's saying to him, stay on track. Don't feel any resistance and capitulate. Don't get intimidated.

Don't slow down. Don't deviate. No matter what resistance you may feel. As he told Timothy in the prior chapter there, 2 Timothy 4, the time will come when they won't endure sound doctrine.

They'll want to have their ears tickled with the things that strike their own imagination. But you continue to preach and reprove and rebuke and exhort and do it patiently and do it with careful instruction. Obviously there's going to be resistance to these calls for holy living, but you must not equivocate.

Keep on talking about these things. And the idea here, as I said, is not so much preaching and not so much teaching in the formal role as in the normal conversation of life. You're talking now about pastoral work. Oh sure, there's a component of that in preaching and teaching, but it comes down out of the pulpit.

Help people see the truth face to face. Help them apply it in their lives. What you're telling them are those things which are fitting. The word prepo here is used. It basically means proper, or seemly, or attractive.

One good old word, befitting. You tell them the things they need to do that fit the doctrine they believe. Calls for behavior, calls for action, it calls for living what is in complete accord with the truth.

And obviously any student of the Bible knows that it never divorces doctrine from duty. When Paul comes into Romans chapter 12 and says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you...and then launches into talking about a living sacrifice and rolls on for several chapters of Christian duty, he's building it all in the first eleven chapters of doctrine. Therefore, because all these mercies of God are true, all these mercies that God has given you in salvation are true, therefore live like this. As Paul writes to the Ephesians after three chapters of doctrine, he simply says that I am going to now urge you therefore to walk worthy of the calling to which you're called. That's the calling, here's how you live. In Colossians chapter 3, after two chapters of doctrines, he says, now that you've been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above. Here's how to live your life. In Philippians, after three chapters of dealing with doctrinal issues, he says, therefore, I'm urging you to live this way. And he goes through chapter 4 with a list of required behaviors.

This is basic, this is absolutely central. The Lord wants churches that know His truth and that live it. In fact, what other value does the truth have if it isn't lived out? He wants a chaste virgin, He wants a pure bride, He wants a holy church. In fact, in 1 Peter 1 16, it's clear just how holy you shall be holy, for I am holy. Be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Be like the Holy One who called you.

I want you as holy as I am. So holy living is proper. Holy living is suitable. Holy living is fitting. Holy living is fitting. Holy living is inseparable from sound doctrine.

That's the point. So we are called then, as those who lead the church, to teach you healthy doctrine and to call you to healthy living. Deceased meat is not allowed to be sold in our country. That's why we have agencies in the government that inspect meat and approve it because diseased meat can make you sick, it can even kill, and so can diseased teaching. Deceased teaching can make people sick and it is deadly. But on the other hand, even good meat eaten in wrong proportions or out of balance or in overindulgence can create sickness as well.

It must be applied in the living of life and exercise and use to gain its benefit. And so it is with healthy teaching. Healthy, sound teaching must be followed up by the call for healthy living. You understand, don't you, that error is a communicable disease? It's very hard to stamp out. Sometimes you think you're dealing with a spiritual AIDS virus.

You just can't find anything to deal with it. Sound teaching is therefore the priority. But it must be followed up with a call to sound living. And that's what verse 1 is saying. You must continually in every conversation all the time be calling your people to the kind of holy living that is suitable for truth. The implication of the verse is that the teachers of truth who call their people to holy living must be aggressive and relentless.

I mean, false teachers sure are. And they must maintain a certain biblical dogmatism, a certain strong demanding tenor must accompany their commands. Tenor must accompany their commands. And so the instruction that's going to come in this second chapter is cast in a very strong light by verse 1. It's binding on us. Then look at verse 15. Look how he closes the chapter.

This is the backside bracket. He says, these things, the things he has just said, speak and exhort and reprove with all authority, let no one disregard you. In verse 1 he said, speak these things. And here again in verse 15, using exactly the same verb, he says it again, speak these things.

He reminds him again, say it. It may not be popular. It may not be accepted by everyone. There may be some discussion about it.

There may be some folks who forget. It may not always be in the front of their minds as it ought to be, so you continually, relentlessly continue to talk about it. Like the great truth of Deuteronomy chapter 6, talk about it when you stand up, sit down, lie down, and walk in the way.

It's on your lips all the time. And, not only in that general sense, but then he says, and exhort. That's a positive note. Come alongside people, urge, encourage, compel, admonish in a positive way. Come on, you need to do that. You have to come along in this area. You must obey this command. This is the standard.

This is how you must live. And then there's a negative. When they don't, he says, reprove them.

That's the negative approach. Rebuke them. The Word has the idea of confronting someone face to face with the purpose of convicting them of their sin. So you have a responsibility, he says to Titus and to any other spiritual leader, and that is to continually in all your conversation, whether it's the pulpit or down below in the midst of the people, whether it's in the public forum or the private conversation, whether it's in the church or in the home, be always speaking about these standards of holy living which are the partners of sound doctrine, and you need to speak them constantly and you need to come alongside people to encourage them to obey, and when they don't do that, you need to rebuke them.

And he says at verse 15, the end of the first sentence, do it with all authority. And what is that authority? Is it the authority of your office? No. Is it the authority of your associations?

No. It is the authority of the Word of God. It wasn't that Titus got this authority by simply being related to Paul, it was that Titus got this authority because to Titus through Paul came the Word of God. By the way, the word epitage, authority, is a word used by Paul in the New Testament always in the sense of a divine command. You can speak these things as divine commands. What you're going to hear in chapter 2 is a series of divine commands. Then he adds, let no one disregard you, and that's certainly for the congregations to hear. You better not disregard what Titus is saying. Scripture is not a book of suggestions.

It is not a book of insights. It is a book of commands. Scripture in Psalm 19 8 is called the commandment of the Lord. In Matthew 7 and Mark 1 and Luke 4, it is recorded that when they heard Jesus speak, they said He speaks as one who has authority. In Matthew 28 19 and 20 He said, You go out into the world and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

And lo, I'm with you always. So that little warning at the end, let no one disregard you, is really a warning to anybody who might decide they're going to try to gainsay or resist what Titus commands with the authority of Scripture. He's saying, Titus, don't back down. He said to Timothy essentially the same thing. Don't you let anybody despise your youth. Don't let anybody wrangle with you over what you say because of the fact that you're young. You continue to be an example, and these things He said to Timothy, command and teach. Hold your ground.

Don't back down. The word disregard is kind of a curious Greek word. It is one of those compound words where you have a preposition put on the front of a word. Phroneo is the verb. It basically means to think. It has to do with the brain. Peri-phroneo, peri we use in the word perimeter.

It means the circumference, the outside of something. And the word to think around simply is the word used here for disregard, literally to think around, to circumvent you, to try to rationalize around you, to try to give you excuses, to try to justify. Don't let anybody do that. Don't let anybody try to evade these commands. Some of these commands are pretty straightforward things, like older women are not to be malicious gossips, younger women are to be keepers in the home, younger men are to be sensible. It's hard for young men to be sensible.

They want to be frivolous. All these kinds of commands, people are going to say, well this and well that, well you don't understand. Don't let them think around you.

Don't let them put on an evasive course justifying or rationalizing. In fact, he might have reminded them of the words of Jesus in that profound statement in Luke chapter 10, verse 16, where Jesus says what I think is just a powerful statement. The one who listens to you listens to Me. The one who rejects you rejects Me. The one who rejects Me rejects the one who sent Me.

What does that mean? Jesus is saying, if they listen to you, My apostles, then they're listening to Me. If they reject you, they're rejecting Me. If they reject Me, they're rejecting the Father that sent Me. The point is this, when someone speaks for God, when someone speaks God's truth, God's Word, and you reject, you reject God.

Don't let them do that. So our Lord wants a healthy church, a church that has taught healthy doctrine and called to healthy spiritual behavior. And He gives Titus and other pastors and leaders in the church the authority to keep on speaking and even to exhort and rebuke if necessary and to do it consistently with the authority of Scripture and not be disregarded. He wants a pure church. He wants a chaste virgin.

He wants a holy, spotless bride. You're listening to Grace to You with John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. Today he started a study titled, Revolutionary Living in a Dark Culture.

Now as this series continues, you'll gain a clearer understanding of the unique roles God reserves for older men, older women, younger women, and younger men. No matter who you are, this study has practical value for you. If you'd like to review any of these lessons again, keep in mind you can download them free of charge from our website, so get in touch with us today. All six lessons from Revolutionary Living in a Dark Culture are available for free at our website, gty.org. The transcripts are also available for free. Just go to the website again, gty.org. And if you'd like to review a recent series we've aired, perhaps True Happiness or Benefiting from Life's Trials, go to our sermon archive where you can listen to any of John's 3600 sermons. All of them are available free of charge. You'll find them all and much more at gty.org. Thanks also for letting us know how this ministry has helped you or someone you know better understand God's Word.

That kind of feedback is more important than you may realize. You can send an email to letters at gty.org. That is our email address. One more time, letters at gty.org. Or you can mail your letter to Grace To You, P.O.

Box 4000, Panorama City, California 91412. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today. Be back tomorrow to see why your sin has devastating consequences not just for you, but for every Christian. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace To You.